[Advaita-l] [advaitin] vidyA-smriti post-jnAna

[V Subrahmanian]

On Fri, Sep 12, 2025 at 10:38 AM 'Bhaskar YR' via advaitin <
advaitin at googlegroups.com> wrote:

> praNAms Sri Subbu prabhuji
>
> Hare Krishna
>
>
> दुःखेष्वनुद्विग्नमनाः सुखेषु विगतस्पृहः ।
> वीतरागभयक्रोधः स्थितधीर्मुनिरुच्यते ॥ ५६ ॥
>
>
>
> In the face of misery and happiness, this Jnani is free of misery and
> attachment.
>
>
>
> Krishna accepts the possibility of miserable and joyful situations in the
> Jnani's life.  The Upanishadic Brahman being not a body will not have this.
> But this Jnani who has realized himself as Brahman is said to be in such
> situations. No one claims that Brahman has these, but the Jnani who is a
> human who has got this realization, can and does have these.  It's how he
> sees them is what is taught here.
>
>
>
> Ø     It has been clarified umpteen times that jnAni is having his own
> set of body itself is avidyA (dehAtma buddhi) and the paramArtha jnAni is
> free from this avidyA.  It is only from the outsiders point of view who are
> still not able to identify jnAni beyond the visible BMI of jnAni, these
> things have been said.  But jnAni himself will not be having these
> delusions to say he is the custodian of rAga-dvesha in his own set of BMI.
> For those who are pasting the avidyAlesha to paramArtha jnAni it is not
> palatable as they have to see the continuation of avidyA in one or the
> other form till the physical death of the paramArtha jnAni.  But
> bhAshyakAra categorically concluded in samanvayAdhikaraNa bhAshya that
> paramArtha jnAni is unembodied even while living.
>

Even ajnani is unembodied always as sharira abhimana is due to
mithyajnanam. The paramartha jnani has shed his mithyajnanam. But by that
much his erstwhile body will not vanish in thin air nor will it die the
moment mithyajnanam goes. Shankara says in the samanvaya bhashya:

न च कुण्डलिनः कुण्डलित्वाभिमाननिमित्तं सुखं दृष्टमिति तस्यैव
कुण्डलवियुक्तस्य कुण्डलित्वाभिमानरहितस्य तदेव कुण्डलित्वाभिमाननिमित्तं सुखं
भवति । तदुक्तं श्रुत्या — ‘अशरीरं वाव सन्तं न प्रियाप्रिये स्पृशतः’ (छा. उ.
८ । १२ । १)
<https://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/display/bhashya/Chandogya/devanagari?page=8&id=Ch_C08_S12_V01&hl=%E0%A4%85%E0%A4%B6%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%80%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%82%20%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B5%20%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%82%20%E0%A4%A8%20%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AF%E0%A5%87%20%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%83%E0%A4%B6%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%83>
इति ।
*शरीरे पतितेऽशरीरत्वं स्यात् , न जीवत इति चेत् , न; सशरीरत्वस्य
मिथ्याज्ञाननिमित्तत्वात् ।* न ह्यात्मनः शरीरात्माभिमानलक्षणं मिथ्याज्ञानं
मुक्त्वा अन्यतः सशरीरत्वं शक्यं कल्पयितुम् ।
नित्यमशरीरत्वमकर्मनिमित्तत्वादित्यवोचाम ।

The same Shankara has also said:

BSB 4.1.15:

बाधितमपि तु मिथ्याज्ञानं द्विचन्द्रज्ञानव*त्संस्कारवशा*त्कंचित्कालमनुवर्तत
एव ।

(The mithyAjnana, the false ignorance, even though is sublated by right
knowledge, will indeed continue for a period of time, like the perception
of double-moon, owing to latent impressions - samskara.)
Ratnaprabha: 4.1.15 commentary glosses the word 'samskara' - latent
impression - of the Bhashya as 'avidyA-lesha')

विक्षेपकाविद्यालेश एव तत्संस्कारः ।   (The projecting power, vikshepaka
shakti, avidyAlesha alone is that samskara)

Thus, the claim that Shankara does not say or accept avidyalesha, is
baseless as the gloss points out that the concept of* avidyAlesha is
expressed by the term 'samskara' by Shankara.*

Avidya lesha in the Bh.Gita bhashya:   5.13:
सर्वकर्माणि मनसा संन्यस्यास्ते सुखं वशी ।
नवद्वारे पुरे देही नैव कुर्वन्न कारयन् ॥ १३ ॥
(The embodied man of self-control, having given up all actions mentally,
continues happily in the town of nine gates, without doing or causing
(others) to do anything at all.)
The relevant part of the Bhashya:
उत्पन्नविवेकज्ञानस्य सर्वकर्मसंन्यासिनोऽपि गेहे इव देहे एव नवद्वारे पुरे
आसनम् प्रारब्धफलकर्म*संस्कारशेषानुवृत्त्या* देह एव विशेषविज्ञानोत्पत्तेः ।
Even in the case of one in whom has arisen discriminating wisdom and who
has renounced all actions, there can be, like staying in a house, the
continuance in the body itself-the town with nine gates-as a consequence of
the* persistence of the remnants of the results of past actions which have
started bearing fruit, *because the awareness of being distinct (from the
body) arises while one is in the body itself.
It is worth noting that the Gita bhashya, just like the Brahma Sutra
bhashya cited above, has the word 'samskara' in connection with the
continuance of the Jnani to be in the body post-Jnanam.
Another similarity between the two Bhashyams is on this count:

The BSB 4.1.15 has the statement that the Jnani continues to be aware of
'being in the body'.  The BGB 5.13 too has the statement that the Jnani is
conscious of being in the body.
Thus we conclude that the concept of 'avidyAlesha' (samskara - the word
used by Shankara) is explicitly admitted by Shankara in at least these two
instances in the Prasthana traya bhashya. What is significant is that the
term 'avidyAlesha' is what corresponds to the term 'samskara' as explained
by a post-Shankara Advaitin.  This proves that the concept of 'avidyAlesha'
is not something introduced by post-Shankara Advaitins but very much there
in the Bhashya itself, although denoted by a different technical term
'samskAra'.
warm regards
subbu








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